Handy Flight Packages to the Savonlinna Opera Festival
The Savonlinna Opera Festival, Finncom Airlines and Kaleva Travel have signed a cooperation agreement on the production of flight packages to each opera night of the 2010 Savonlinna Opera Festival. These packages comprise return flights from Helsinki, an opera ticket and transport from Savonlinna airport to Olavinlinna Castle and back. The price – from €369 – is lower than in previous years.
The Opera Festival will run from July 2 to 31, 2010. Housed within the massive walls of Olavinlinna Castle, in magnificent acoustics, it is dedicated to the fates of five immortal heroines: Tosca, Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Madama Butterfly and Elektra – five touching tales of love, freedom, death and lust for power. Adding a lighter touch to their great dramas are Countess Almaviva and her resourceful friends, all focusing on the marriage of Figaro. No matter where in the world these masterpieces are performed, they almost invariably draw a full house.
One of the greatest opera directors in the world today, Keith Warner (UK), will direct Puccini's Tosca, now to be performed in Savonlinna for the very first time. Singing the title role will be Kristin Lewis, the Festival’s Artist of the Year, while Juha Uusitalo and Jukka Rasilainen will alternate as Scarpia. In the last week of the Festival the Royal Swedish Opera will be presenting Mozart’s classic The Marriage of Figaro and Richard Strauss’s Elektra – based on stories from ancient Greece – on the Olavinlinna stage.
More than 2,200 seats are available for each of the season’s 25 opera performances.
“The Opera Festival places great emphasis on accessibility. Our tripartite partnership with Kaleva Travel and Finncom Airlines represents an important first step for us, particularly from the perspective of making culture available in the form of a package,” says the Festival’s Marketing Director, Tiina Olkkonen.
The 55-minute flight from Helsinki to Savonlinna departs at 12.50 pm and leaves Savonlinna again at 11.30 pm. In July Finncom will also operate daily flights from Helsinki to Savonlinna at 9.30 am and from Savonlinna to Helsinki at 10.40 am and 2.00 pm. There will also be a flight from Helsinki to Savonlinna at 4.00 pm from Monday to Saturday with the exception of July 26, when there will be no 4.00 pm flight from Helsinki or 11.30 pm flight from Savonlinna.
“The flight schedule has been designed to make it ideal for opera-goers. We will be offering three flight pairs on weekdays and two on Sundays. The early departures from Helsinki will give people time and a chance to explore and enjoy Savonlinna’s beautiful surroundings, in the form of, say, a boat cruise,” says Finncom Airlines Marketing Director Tuure Holkko. “They can also get home for the night, since there is still a return flight at 11.30 pm, after the opera.”
The travel packages are easily available either through Kaleva Travel’s online service http://www.kalevatravel.fi or by calling our customer services. They can also include (for a further charge) such items as lunch.
“There are so many firm favourites on the programme for the 2010 season that demand for the travel packages will be high. We therefore recommend early booking,” says Marketing Director Terhi Hakulinen from Kaleva Travel. “An opera package is also a great Christmas gift.”